PAGE 2, THE COUGAR CRY, APRIL 16, 1968
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
A dropout? You?
Ridiculous, isn’t it? You’ve finished high school. You are
now enrolled in college. By definition, then, you are anything but
a dropout.
It really is not an either-you-are-or-you-are-not question. It
is instead, a question of degree. The student who is achieving
below his ability is just as surely a dropout as is the student who
severes his connections with formal education. Only the degree is
different.
There are millions of dropouts for both high school and col
lege. Many of these dropouts have gone as far up the educational
ladder as their ability will permit. The “dorpout” who stays in
school is a different matter entirely. He is giving up a degree of
education that he could possess. He is cheating himself and his
family — present and future — his school, and his country.
Are you, such a cheat? Or are you taking advantage of all
your opportunities to absorb the education being offered to you?
Take those parallel reading assignments for example, do you
read them or do you hear that the instructor never checks on them
and you just don’t bother?
Take your research paper — or should I say papers? Did
you pick the topic you thought to be easiest or one from which
you might learn more? Did you dig as deeply as you should or
did you go only as far as the teacher required?
The course you are taking — did you choose them for their
educational worth to you and your future, or because you thought
they were “crip” courses or because they fit into your schedule
easily. Surely you wouldn’t take one just because Sue or Joe is
taking it—would you?
Most important, are you doing the very best you can in what
ever you are taking or are you satisfied with second best?
You are paying to come to school, in both time and money
(your parents’ and families’ as well as your own). So why not get
what you are paying for? Won’t you? Or are you just another
dropout?”
How Is A President Judged?
Term Papers Are Beneficial
The American people have
shown their true color within
the last two or three weeks by
their reactions to President
Johnson.
Before his announcemnet that
he is not a candiate for the
next year's Presidential election,
the majority of the American
people scorned President John
son for many of his policies,
both foreign and domestic. This
is not uncommon for any
president.
Could President Johnson only
take so much? Did President
Johnson finally let some of the
opinions and strong feelings sink
in? Did he “accomplish” all he
thought he could? Or, did Pres
ident Johnson feel that by step
ping aside he would best be serv
ing his country? For any of these
reasons for which President
Johnson denounced his candidacy,
he may have won the sympathy
of the “before* critical Amer
icans and non-Americans. Be
cause of this sympathy, people
may think that maybe he has
changed his policy about Viet
Nam. This change of feeling
shows that Americans do not
know how to judge a president.
It seems that Americans should
realize that there are more than
one issue on which to judge a
candidate for president. Because
Johnson has increased our wages,
people praise him but they do
not stop to think that the cost of
living has also gone up. So really,
we have not gained a thing. Also,
because Johnson has kept
America out of a “declared*
war, people praise him.
What should be more important
to Johnson is our country, but he
seems to have forgotten it. May
be he is looking into the future
when he made a stand in Viet
nam, but in the process he for
got the thing that are going on,
right now, in our country--and for
this reason we are suffering
internally; in America.
We tend to judge a candidate
on his appearance on television
and also on his speaking ability
and we do not think just because
he looks good and speaks good
that he may not have the back-
gound or capacity of being Pres
ident.
The President should be
chosen on what he actually says
he will do-politicians are in
genious on how to not answer
questions-and what he has
actually done in the past. These
Is there really any purpose to
a term paper? Of course, this
question can be answered by both
yes and no.
In many cases the term paper
is really of no substantial benefit
to the teacher. Almost in nine out
of ten cases the teacher already
knows about the topic that is
assigned to the student. Having to
read fifteen or twenty term
papers on a topic that a person
is already familiar with, and
probably knows as much about,
if not more, on the subject than
the student will find, is in many
ways just a waste of time to the
teacher. However, the term paper
could be beneficial to the teacher
if, like some teachers, he assigns
the student a term paper to do
on topics he himself knows little
or maybe nothing about. In this
way the teacher learns and the
term papers are a help to him.
To the student naturally the
term paper seems unnecessary.
Term papers can be a complete
nuisance. Teachers can be un
reasonable and run the term
papers into the ground by assign
ing three or four term papers
for a student to do in one
quarter, thus having no pity at
all for the students. One term
paper is all well and good in
its proper place, but three or
four are ridiculous especially in
one subject with all the other
work the teacher piles on the
student. Students are human
beings too and now and then they
need some time to themselves,
time to escape from the hectic
pace of school life.
When a term paper is assigned,
it is better if the topic is in some
way one that the student is slightly
things should determine whether
a candidate is capable or not for
being President of the United
States.
interested in. In this way the
paper is more beneficial to the
student because he already has
an interest in this topic and the
term paper will not seem as
much of a chore toj the student.
However, no matter what the
topic is regardless of the
students’ interest, the term paper
should be a challenge to him be
cause it gives an opportunity to
broaden his field of knowledge.
Naturally the general consen
sus among students is that term
papers are nothing but headaches.
But there really is a point to
doing a term paper even though
most students do not think so.
They think that term papers are
just another means of taking up
a student’s precious free time.
By doing a term paper a student
learns how to organize and
assemble facts ina logical order.
Also, because of a lack of time,
there are many facts that the
teacher is not able to point out
to the student during a quarter’s
work. By doing the term paper
the student gets a well rounded
background he needs to know
but because there is so much
material to cover in a quarter
the student could not get these
extra facts during the class meet
ings. Therefore, the term paper
helps the student to broaden his
background in different subjects.
Nancy Icenhour
Freak-ln?
A number of students at WCC
are interested in having a Freak-
In wher e everyone, including
faculty and students dress as
hippies. Everyone’s goal will be
complete self expression in
dress. If anyone is interested,
confer your opinions to the Stu
dent Government Association.
Isn’t it funny how little value
other people put on your time.
THE VOICE OF WILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Editor Becky Landreth
Assistant Editor Elizabeth Parks
News Editor Debby Lomax
Feature Editor Shirley Steelman
Sports Editor Charles Broyhill
Circulation & Business Manager Jimmy Harris
Columnist Nancy Icenhour
Photography Staff
Staff Sue Sebastian, Thornton Long, Mar
tha Johnson, Jenny Eller, Hal Dean Byrd, Linda Wat
son, Mary Jane Call, Volree Richardson, Carol Caudill
Advisor .D. S. Mayes